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Friday, August 31, 2018

Whatever you do, don't mention the Diakka

"The New Encyclopedia of the Occult" is John
Michael Greer's truly encyclopaedic overview of the Western esoteric scene. The
author is the current head or "archdruid" of the Ancient Order of
Druids in America (AODA). He is also a practitioner of ritual magic in the
Golden Dawn tradition, and a more or less "initiated" member of at
least a dozen different secret societies (including Scottish Masonry). An
impressive CV? Well, at least if your assignment is to write a rather extensive
volume on the occult!

Some entries in Greer's opus deal with subjects relatively well known to the
average reader, such as Nostradamus, Atlantis, astrology and Jesus (sic).
Others are perhaps more unexpected. How many average readers know that the
Irish poet, politician and Nobel Prize laureate W. B. Yeats was an occultist of
long standing? Charles Williams, Charles Fourier and Mormon prophet Joseph
Smith are other entries that might surprise some people. As behoves a work of
esoterica, there are also a lot of entries on strange and maybe even bogus
subjects. What are we to make of the supposedly Catholic "Order of
Mopses", the Hasidic Druids of North America, Xaos Magic or Thee Temple ov
Psychick Youth, which is said to practice "majick"? I also learned
that Earth has a dark satellite ruled by the spiritual hierophant Ob, and that
we should all avoid the Diakka! I'll watch my step in the future.

Jokes aside, most of "The New Encylopedia of the Occult" is perfectly
serious. Greer mostly avoids sensationalist topics, such as black magic, Nazism
or conspiracy theory. Instead, his work focuses rather heavily on the Golden
Dawn tradition, so brace yourself for page after page of entries dealing with
Kabbalistic "spheres" and "paths", their angelic
correspondences, Golden Dawn rituals, etc. Nothing wrong with that, per se.
Golden Dawn, after all, worked in the Christian Hermetic tradition typical of
the West. But yes, the general reader might find this somewhat boring. For
those who are simply looking for a fun read about truly weird people, I
recommend "The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies". But know
what? Its author is also...John Michael Greer.